In a galaxy far, far away, there is the persistent conflict of good versus evil. Star Wars is full of memorable heroes and infamous villains. Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine and Darth Maul have become cultural icons. Even Count Dooku and General Grievous rose in popularity among Star Wars fans. Rightly so, hopes were high for Disney to satisfy expectations. In more ways than one, the Disney Trilogy dropped the baton. Supreme Leader Snoke amounted to hot air. Kylo Ren was a sad sack of shame and regrets. Worse of all was the aimless, ineffective, and forgettable villain General Armitage Hux.
Here is the rise and fall of General Hux, played by Domhnall Gleeson. He was born on Arkanis around the same time as the Battle of Yavin (the end of Star Wars: A New Hope). His father Brendol Hux was the head of an Imperial officer academy on Arkanis. After the Galactic Civil War Armitage Hux joined the First Order to reclaim the Empire’s dominance over the galaxy. During his rise in power, he arranged the assassination of his father at the hands of Captain Phasma. With fierce passion and the right connections, he became a leading officer and the overseer of Starkiller Base.
Under the direction of Supreme Leader Snoke, General Hux ordered the superweapon fired at the capital planets of the New Republic, obliterating all five of them and their innumerable citizens. He was unable to repel the Resistance retaliation, however, and Starkiller Base was destroyed. General Hux then took command of the First Order’s capital flagship, the Supremacy. While in pursuit of a fleeing Resistance armada, Supreme Leader Snoke go assassinated, and General Hux was bullied out of succession by his rival Kylo Ren. Together they pursue the Resistance to a final showdown on Crait.
Admiral Holdo fired her ship into hyperspace like a bullet, cutting the Supremacy in two pieces. General Hux then besieges the salt planet only to have Luke Skywalker distract Kylo Ren long enough for their enemies to escape. Supreme Leader Kylo Ren disliked Hux so much that he replaced him with a more competent second-in-command, Allegiant General Pryde. Hux schemes vengeance against Kylo Ren by passing intel to the Resistance, and then secretly releasing Finn, Poe, and Chewbacca after capturing them on a mission against the First Order. Presuming he was an accomplice to their escape, General Pryde executes Hux for treason.
General Hux was supposed act as the face of the First Order, not unlike Grand Moff Tarkin in A New Hope. He was second to the Supreme Leader and the peer of Kylo Ren. Unfortunately, his presence, his characteristics, and his actions make him the worst villain of the Disney Trilogy.
Hux is inducted to the Star Wars canon in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. He is introduced as the military commander of the First Order Stormtroopers, paired with Sith apprentice Kylo Ren. His grand speech to the army before firing Starkiller Base, with all the spitting and hand waving was supposed to invoke a sense of tyranny and evil, and instead came off like a whiny teenager. They pushed the character too far into the analogy making him seem like an exaggerated cartoon character, instead of the terrifying fanatic he should have been.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi offered no better of an appearance for Hux. The opening sequence completely deflated any semblance of imposing or villainous attributes in him. Poe Dameron, one of the Resistance’s top fighter pilots, a known enemy, gleefully makes a prank call to Hux before leading a run of bombers in an attack to destroy a First Order dreadnaught.
Hux had no objections taking the call, as if this were a casual occasion. He walked into the stupid diversion and opened himself up for attack. He posed no consequences to Dameron’s insult except to squeeze his fist and pout, while his dreadnaught was easily destroyed. He was essentially reduced to “little brother” status in this scene.
Hux is further humiliated by Snoke as punishment for the loss, when he is Force prostrated before Snoke’s hologram. Later, after Snoke is secretly assassinated by Kylo Ren, Hux makes a feeble attempt to claim the ultimate position over the First Order, only to be elbowed aside by Ren. Hux already has command over the entire army by decree of Snoke, could he not use that power to defeat Kylo Ren, despite his power with the Force? Not only did he not even try, but it seemed as though he lacked confidence in himself.
By Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker, Hux is chucked into the discard pile. Without any hope left to redeem him as the Imperial-esque villain, they contrive a plot to make him betray Kylo Ren and get swiftly executed, and replaced, by the meaner, aristocratic, traditional British villainy of General Pryde.
General Pryde should have been in command of Starkiller Base in Force Awakens, or at least, Hux should have been more like General Pryde. Instead, they made him a cartoon character, and then a little brother, and finally discarded him without any more use. Domhnall Gleeson is a good actor put into a wasted character.
Despite its faults, the Disney Trilogy was a financial success and the first two are critically acclaimed. The Rise of Skywalker has the lowest rating of any of the Star Wars films, even lower than The Phantom Menace.
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